Politics
Lewis Goodall leaps to Israel’s defence in debate with Hasan Piker
On 1 June, the Starmer government banned streamer Hasan Piker from entering the UK. He blamed the ban on his criticism of Israel. And since then, he’s had ample opportunities to discuss his position with the British media.
The most recent example of this happened on 7 June with LBC host Lewis Goodall:
I started to construct a precise argument against Lewis Goodall's position here. But all that needs saying is: The only Jewish state is behaving like the Nazis. It is Israel's genocidal behaviour that is the problem, not the people making such comparisons. https://t.co/FYaLCEFSKq
— Heather Mendick (@helensclegel) June 7, 2026
Piker accused of being ‘crass and offensive’
The above conversation played out as follows:
Lewis Goodall: Do you think it might ever be better sometimes just to never compare any Jews to Nazis? It might just be wise to do that.
It’s important to note that Piker didn’t compare Jews in general to the Nazis; he compared the Israeli government and its backers to them, and he did so because of their documented:
Hasan Piker: Oh no, no, I don’t, I’m not so precious about that comparison and I’ve actually had-
Lewis Goodall: Maybe that’s easy for you to say as a non-Jewish person.
Hasan Piker: Oh for sure. At the end of the day it’s a genocide. At the end of the day, this is an apartheid state, and Zionism as an ideology is a racist ideology. And many Jewish thinkers are now also coming to terms with that, even if they had self-identified as Zionists their entire lives.
Lewis Goodall: So you would compare what’s happened in Gaza to the Holocaust?
Hasan Piker: It’s not to the same extent, no, but I have compared it to the Holocaust, yes.
Lewis Goodall: But it’s not the Holocaust, is it, Hasan?
The clip excludes Piker’s response, skipping to the following from Goodall:
I think the thing about you is you speak compellingly about many things, but you undermine your case and you open yourself to the accusation, which might not be unreasonable, of antisemitism.
It then skips to this:
My suggestion to you would be that it is crass and offensive to compare the only Israeli… Jewish state in the world. And we should, of course, be careful of eliding Israel and Judaism, of course, but it is the only Jewish state in the world, mainly comprised of Jews, comparing them to Nazis, given that Nazis literally tried to exterminate this entire race and came very close to succeeding.
The Nazis also tried to exterminate the Soviets, killing 27 million individuals, including 19 million civilians and 3.6 million prisoners of war. Should we not compare Putin to Hitler despite him literally annexing a neighbouring country?
This is what a comparison is – an act of saying ‘this thing is like another thing‘; not ‘these two things are identical‘.
Goodall’s comments are reminiscent of the meme which goes ‘yeah, I may be racist, but you were mean, and that’s worse‘:
This is a childish way of framing the issue, of course, but is it any more grossly simplistic than Goodall’s insistence of prioritising manners over human lives?
Roundly panned
Criticisms of Goodall included the following:
Kudos to @hasanthehun for managing to remain calm in front of an honestly unrecognizably and uncharacteristically angry @lewis_goodall as he goes through every single tired pro-Israel talking point, to the point of low-key justifying the UK ban, and tbh putting words in his mouth https://t.co/sWwRiBEtal
— Alonso Gurmendi (@Alonso_GD) June 7, 2026
Lewis Goodall is a classic British imperialist. He feels sympathy with colonised peoples, like the Irish, or the Palestinians, as long as they are passive victims.
But as soon as they pick up arms to actually defend themselves and challenge their oppression, he despises them. https://t.co/JBt09CKXow
— Harry Pettit
Journalist Glenn Greenwald said:
There’s nothing “offensive” about comparing the actions and mentality of Israel to those of the Nazis. What is offensive is demanding that one country and only it — Israel — be exempt from those comparisons because it hurts people’s feelings, or because it seems “bigoted” to compare them.
The whole point of the Nuremberg Trials was that the precedents set there would only have meaning — i.e., be something beyond mere “victor’s justice” — if those principles applied to the actions of **all countries** in the future. Israel doesn’t have some special, unique exemption from the imperative.
Some criticised LBC for cutting out Piker’s response (something which was obvious in the transcribed clip above):
hey @LBC why did you interview hasan if you're going to cut out all his answers? what was the point of having a conversation if many of his answers wouldn't be heard? pic.twitter.com/yfec4VjxM6
— palki
Goodall justified the edits as follows:
What? We played 30 mins on the radio and put the full thing out on YouTube. There was an edited social clip but we’ve put tonnes out from the interview. It was a great conversation.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) June 7, 2026
This shouldn’t need explaining, but people are more likely to see the clips than the full video. Therefore, the clips should not be selectively edited to remove the responses to the questions being asked.
Many accused Goodall of ‘defending Israel’ in how he presented his arguments:
Wild that Lewis repeats the lie that Hamas executes gay people, only to wheel it back to a ten year prison sentence after being challenged. Like, why lie lmao. How long it’s been and how ignorant commentariat is of the reality is staggering. https://t.co/eCnkk0zqvr
— Chłoddy (@OfSymbols) June 7, 2026
Completely inaccurate tropes used here. I’m assuming “thrown off a bridge” is a variation on the bad-faith “thrown off buildings” accusation you hear about the Muslim world when, in reality, it was ISIS that did this. It has happened nowhere else. pic.twitter.com/yL1Kgceqw5
— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) June 7, 2026
"BECAUSE ISRAEL HAS DONE AN OCTOBER 7 A THOUSAND TIMES OVER TO THE PALESTINIAN POPULATION" – @hasanthehun stands by his stance that he would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time. Also Lewis Goodall saying he's not defending Israel when he literally is defending Israel. — adri ♡ (@socialistadri) June 7, 2026
Unarguably, by pushing Israeli talking points, he is in fact defending Israel. And you could say he has good reason to do so.
Goodall’s wife works for the Tony Blair Institute, and Blair himself was recently in the running to become the ‘viceroy of Palestine‘. We’re not saying Goodall is working to subvert the Palestinian liberation movement so that his wife can get a promotion, but we are saying people should be aware of this connection.
Admittedly, it would be difficult for news channels to announce all of their conflicts of interest up front. There are so many in the British establishment that there’d be no time for the news.
Very easy to hate your Stephen Pollards and your Sarah Vines but ultimately they're on the same intellectual level as Tommy Robinson supporters and can't help themselves. It's people like Lewis who are smart enough to know exactly what they're doing who I truly despise https://t.co/sRiZO7wF3h
— hen (@afterwayafter) June 7, 2026
To end on a positive note (of sorts):
Nothing has exposed the British public to @hasanthehun’s ideas like @ShabanaMahmood banning him from a pretty normie tech conference and a debate society he already did last year. Instead, he got GB News, Piers Morgan, The Times, and LBC Well done! Excellent strategizing!
— Alonso Gurmendi (@Alonso_GD) June 7, 2026
“Spirited and good”
Goodall described the broader conversation as follows:
Have you watched the full interview? It was a spirited and good conversation. And I’ve spoken out saying I think the ban is outrageous.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) June 8, 2026
Piker himself agreed with this interpretation:
i think this was an interesting conversation, kind liberals cont to make optics arguments that center the feelings of ppl w sympathies to the state that has conducted industrial mass slaughter & maintains an apartheid. the purpose of holocaust scholarship is to never let it… https://t.co/MhKjjQGNM9
— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) June 7, 2026
Of course, the fact that the debate was overall “spirited and good” doesn’t exclude Goodall from criticism. You could say the Titanic was a very “spirited and good” voyage besides the bit that wasn’t, but that wouldn’t accurately convey what happened, would it?
It’s ultimately worth remembering that the British media doesn’t exist to accurately convey events; it exists to convey just enough information to create a narrative. You could compare them to the propaganda wing of another regime for that, but doing so would be “crass and offensive”.
Featured image via LBC
By Willem Moore
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